Attachment Flashcards

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1
Q

Do other species have attachment/ follow similar trends?

A

Yes.
Harlow’s monkeys. He studied “love”. Studied the “earliest social environment”–the relationship with the mother. Contrasted mother figurines who fed the monkey, and ones who were warm and fuzzy. The monkeys valued comfort more than sustenance–which was counterintuitive at the time. Harlow also showed that monkeys that were raised in the absence of any mother figure would not seek out comfort later when they were exposed to threatening environments.

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2
Q

Experiment on infant irritability and attachment patterns.

A

Experiment:

Measured infant irritability at 1 month
Asked whether it predicts later attachment at 18 to 24 months
Highly irritable versus moderately irritable infants show different patterns of attachment later in life. So it’s related.

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3
Q

Study of Eastern European (probably Yugoslavian…) orphanages.

A

One group provided with physical contact/comfort, one group not. Longitudinally studied behavior problem differential definitively observed.

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4
Q

What is secure base?

A

Secure base is Bowlby’s (the author of attachment theory) term for an attachment figure’s presence that provides an infant or toddler with a sense of security that makes it possible for the infant to explore the environment.

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5
Q

What are the developmental phases of attachment?

A

• Preattachment phase (birth to 6 weeks)
The infant produces innate signals that bring others to his or her side and is comforted by the interaction that follows.

• Attachment-in-the-making (6 weeks to 6-8 months)
The phase in which infants begin to respond preferentially to familiar people.

• Clear-cut attachment (between 6-8 months and 1 1⁄2-2 years) Characterized by the infant’s actively seeking contact with their regular caregivers and typically showing separation protest or distress when the caregiver departs

• Reciprocal relationships (from 1 1⁄2 or 2 years on)
Involves children taking an active role in developing working partnerships/ bilateral relationships with their caregivers

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6
Q

How do we test attachment?

A

Ainsworth developed a laboratory procedure called “The Strange Situation” to assess infants’ attachment to their primary caregivers.
– In this procedure, the child is exposed to seven episodes, including two separations and reunions with the caregiver and interactions with a stranger when alone and when the caregiver is in the room.

They use the reactions to the Strange Situation to hypothesize the child’s internal working model for the parent and the child’s relationship to the parent.

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7
Q

FILL IN in class exercise

A

W13L1

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8
Q

What are the 4 categories of attachment in detail?

A

Secure attachment is a pattern of attachment in which an infant or child has a good, consistent, high quality, relatively unambivalent relationship with his or her attachment figure.
In the strange situation – secure infants are often distressed when the caregiver leaves, and happy when they return, recovering quickly from the distress.
They use caregivers as a secure base for exploration
These have the best outcomes when it comes to behavioral measures.
2/3 of American middle class children are securely attached

Insecure/resistant attachment: infants are clingy, stay close to their caregiver rather than explore the environment
In the strange situation, they tend to be very upset when caregivers leave the room, and are not easily comforted by strangers
When the caregiver returns, they are not easily comforted and both seek comfort and resist efforts by the caregiver to comfort them.

Insecure/avoidant attachment:
The child seems indifferent to the caregiver, may even avoid the caregiver.
In the strange situation, behave indifferently when the caregiver is both in and out of the room.
If these children become upset when left alone, they are as easily comforted by a stranger as by their caregiver.

Disorganized/disoriented attachment:
In the strange situation, infants are inconsistent in their coping mechanism. (Somewhat problematic category, as it serves as a catch all for people who don’t fit the other three categories).
Their behavior is often confused or even contradictory, and they often appear dazed or disoriented.
It is these children who have the most behavioral problems later in life.

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9
Q

Variation in distribution of attachment patterns across cultures

A

In any culture, approximately 2/3 of the population is secure attached, the rest are roughly equally distributed between the insecure/disorganized models. But there is SOME variability cross culturally. 70 - 10 - 10 - 10 versus 60 - 20 - 10 - 10. Some cultures value the qualities that the avoidant category seems to display, so that’s part of the criticism of the experimental model.

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10
Q

Does one’s attachment style (from childhood) affect their parenting?

A

Autonomous (secure) parents - Coherent and consistent answers; balanced reports (for both positive and negative features)

Preoccupied (ambivalent/resistant) parents - Intensely focused on their parents; aggressive reports

Dismissing (avoidant) parents - Give dismissive answers; claim that they don’t remember their experiences; the reports are inconsistent

Unresolved (disorganized) parents - Unreasonable and inconsistent reports; may suffer from traumatic experiences

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11
Q

PIE CHARTS of what type of parents various types of children are coming from.

A

General conclusions:
Securely attached infants come mostly from autonomous parents
Anxious/resistant attached infants have a wider spread, but the largest category is preoccupied parents
Avoidant attached infants mostly from dismissing parents
Disorganized attached infants come mostly from unresolved parents.

Probabilistic relationship… very mixed bag. There are a lot of variables, including child temperament.

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12
Q

What is today’s article about?

READ/ FILL IN

A

Cognitive effects? YES.

Self-reported attachment style-> performance in the flanker test for college students.

Life-span effects?
YES.

Attachment at 18 months -> relationship style 20 years later.

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